Xin chào and greetings everyone, every now and then TAR will throw in a task where luck plays a huge factor just to produce some totally unpredictable outcomes - we certainly got that in this episode with the roadblock just before the pit stop in this leg in Can Tho, Vietnam. This explains the results in this leg which once again well and truly mixed the teams up. We have a lot to get through, but before we go any further, as always let's start with the average rankings after leg 4.
Average rankings after leg 4 in Can Tho, Vietnam
- Rob & Corey = 3
- Steve & Anna Leigh = 3.75
- Todd & Ashlie = 4.25
- Greg & John = 5.5
- Jocelyn & Victor = 5.75 (eliminated in Can Tho, Vietnam)
- Morgan & Lena = 6
- Joel & Garrett = 6
- Joe & Ian = 6.75
- Robbin & Chelsea = 7
- Liam & Yeremi = 8.25
- Andrea & Malaina = 9
Oh no, another one of my favourite teams got eliminated!
I was heartbroken when Jocelyn & Victor got eliminated. It was a shock of course as they won the first two legs, Victor even spoke some basic Vietnamese and was the only one racer who did that - however, the odds were stacked against them from the start. Since this was a keep on racing leg, they were already right at the back of the pack from the start an hour behind the leaders. They chose wisely in picking the detour at the seafood market but fell prey to bad luck when they got to the roadblock. When they arrived at the roadblock at Hung King temple, they were actually in 10th place and at one point, they were there with another five teams. There was definitely an element of luck when it came to completing that challenge, yes of course you needed to remain calm under pressure and have a methodical approach to the task, but the evidence is clear: the team that won this leg Robbin & Chelsea have an average ranking lower than Jocelyn & Victor. I don't mean to take away anything from Robbin & Chelsea who performed really well on this leg, but I couldn't help but feel that if this had been a task where skill was more important than luck, then Jocelyn & Victor would have survived yet another leg. Of course, my prediction from last week was wrong again, I predicted that Steve & Anna Leigh would keep their lead and win this leg (well they came in 2nd) and I thought Andrea & Malaina would be eliminated but Andrea kept her cool and aced that roadblock at the temple to keep them in the race. Statistically, they are still the weakest team but Andrea really impressed me on this leg. Even when Malaina was freaking out over the live fish in the seafood market, Andrea was the one who was always calm and never cracked under pressure. I'm really sorry to see Jocelyn & Victor go - it all went downhill from the previous leg and this reminds me of TAR S29 E3 when another very strong team was eliminated very early in E3. Seth & Olive actually won the first leg but that immediately put a target on their backs when they were U-turned in E3 and that eventually lead to their elimination. Mind you, Seth & Olive only won one leg before their early exit, Jocelyn & Victor won two legs! I am still in shock but it was just wonderful to see how they were still so supportive of each other even after their elimination. I would have loved to have seen them for more episodes given how they work so well as a team - I still have one more team I really like left in the race and that's Rob & Corey, who are statistically the strongest team at this point. I'm just gonna play favourites here, I really want them to win.
What's Vietnamese coffee like?
I am disappointed that the teams didn't do a coffee related task - they simply collected their clue from the café before choosing their detour. As Phil explained, Vietnam is only second when it comes to coffee production in the world and it is a cash crop that grows quickly in the tropical weather there. The beans are mostly of the robusta variety, which is inferior to the more popular arabica variety favoured in the West. Robusta beans grow quickly in hot countries like Vietnam and Brazil, whilst arabica beans are grown in the highlands of places like Colombia, Hawaii and Jamaica. When you grow coffee in these much cooler conditions in the highlands, the coffee beans take much longer to mature, enabling them to develop a far more complex and refined flavour in the meantime. The robusta beans in Vietnam have a harsher taste and are more acidic, they fetch a lower price on international markets, so these beans are often turned into instant coffee where manufacturers can improve the flavour with additives and if consumed locally, the Vietnamese tend to add a lot of sweetened condense milk to offset the acidity - resulting in a very sweet drink. I have had Vietnamese coffee in Vietnam and oh dear - it was one of the most underwhelming experiences as I do love coffee and really enjoy Vietnamese cuisine.
Why are the fish all still alive and jumping around?
Many racers freaked out at the seafood market when they had to deal with the live fish jumping around in the buckers, still alive. That's certainly not something you would find in European or North American supermarkets, where the fish are dead already but kept fresh at very low temperatures. The fact is Vietnam is a poor country where seafood is an important part of the diet - Vietnam has a very long coast along the South China Sea along with numerous rivers that flow through the country like the Mekong. Hence when the fishermen catch the fish, the cheapest way to keep the fish fresh until they are sold is to simply keep them alive by keeping them in buckets of water - this has been the way things were done for centuries before they had modern refrigeration. It would cost these fishmongers a lot of money to install massive fridges to store all that fish and most of them simply do not have that kind of capital to invest in their businesses so they do things the old fashioned manner. Given how hot the weather in Vietnam is, the fish would go off very quickly that heat and ice can only keep the fish fresh for so long before the ice melts - thus keeping the fish alive in buckets of water is the old fashioned solution to this challenge, it is a solution that is still the most practical choice for these Vietnamese fishmongers today. This tradition has been a part of the culture of Asian supermarkets for a long time - I can go to some of the Chinese supermarkets in London and still buy a live fish, they have these massive fish tanks to keep the fish alive.
A reminder of the Vietnam war.
I really liked the moment when Joel shared the story about how his uncle had fought in the Vietnam war - that was all a generation ago, before I was even born but it was such a painful chapter in Vietnam's history. I remember when I was in Vietnam on holiday and I saw many American tourists there and I can see how they were drawn to Vietnam as it is a budget friendly, exotic Asian country that has a lot to offer, but I wondered how many of them actually knew that much about the Vietnam war? Are they even interested at all? I tried to imagine what Joel's uncle would have reacted as he watched that episode - I smiled and thought, that is pure reality TV gold because you can't script that, it is just so perfect.
Which side of the detour was easier?
Simply judging by the speed the teams got through their respective detours, it does seem that the teams that did the fish stand completed that side of the detour faster. The only team that made a small mistake was Steve & Anna Leigh when they forgot about the plastic pail of eels, but even then that didn't slow them down much. Some teams were squeamish about the live fish but none of them had any difficulty in completing that task. The mattress deliver side of the detour however, looked absolutely brutal. It would only favour the strongest of teams and two teams did perform that task particularly well: Liam & Yeremi as well as Joe & Ian. I hate to be sexist or ageist, but unless you were as strong as those four young men, you'd be a lot better off in the fish market doing the other side of the detour. Given the hot conditions in Can Tho, I'd definitely pick the task in the fish market simply because it is indoors rather than outdoors. It must have been exhausting doing something so physical in that heat and not a single team who did that detour found it easy at all.
Did the teams choose wisely?
Most of them did but some teams didn't choose wisely. Ashlie clearly struggled with the physical nature of the task and she was exhausted - likewise, I was surprised that some older racers like Joel & Garrett along with Rob picked this detour when there was a less physically demanding detour available. Greg & John realized that they picked the wrong detour and were tempted to switch, but they made the wise decision to cut their losses and finish the fish stand detour. They would have done the mattress delivery task with ease - maybe they did not read the clue properly before choosing.
Okay the Ong Pagoda was nice but what was the point of it?
The teams didn't have to do much at the Ong Pagoda, they were just there to make a wish and get their next clue. Predictably, most of them wished for the same thing - to win the leg or the race. Sure it was charming to visit a pagoda like that but they had already raced through so many temples in the first two legs, did we really need to see another temple? I think if you want to send the racers to a location, then must make them do something there which may alter their positions in the race, but if they are essentially just leaving in the order they arrived in, then I felt that was pointless.
Was it a Chinese temple? Why are there so many Chinese characters in the temple?
No it wasn't a Chinese temple per se, but you will see a lot of Chinese characters in Vietnamese temples as the Vietnamese language used to be written with Chinese characters before the French romanized the language. The oldest temples in Vietnam were built way before the French arrived in Vietnam, thus the walls of these old temples would be covered with old Vietnamese written in Chinese characters. Over the years, even newer temples would copy the style of the older temples including the use of Chinese characters in the inscriptions in the temples - even though most Vietnamese people wouldn't be able to read them at all. It is quite similar to how some Catholic churches would have Latin phrases as part of the design in the church, even though the congregation wouldn't be able to understand any Latin at all. I recall when I was in Vietnam and I visited this very old temple in Hanoi - I was able to read most of those Chinese characters there but my Vietnamese guide couldn't and so that's a little piece of insight into Vietnamese culture for you.
Not much trouble asking for directions this time.
On this leg two teams: Rob & Corey and Joel & Garrett had to ask for directions but had no difficulty in finding friendly locals who spoke English reasonably well. That really surprised me as I had so much difficulty trying to communicate in Vietnam when I was there! I speak three languages at native standard: English, which is the default second/foreign language in Vietnam; French, which is the former colonial language and Mandarin, which is the language that might be used for trade with their neighbour China and spoken by a substantial Chinese minority in Vietnam. I didn't encounter anyone who spoke a word of Mandarin in Vietnam, French was only spoken in very, very few places. Ironically, English turned out to be the most useful language to use to communicate with the locals if you could not speak any Vietnamese.
Needle in a haystack - that roadblock was brutal.
I have seen a lot of discussion on social media about that roadblock at the Hung King temple - was it luck? Was it skill? Or was it a combination of both? I would say that there was a huge element of luck involved given the size of the temple grounds. Even if you were very methodical and knew exactly how to approach the task, it was still dependent on you chancing upon the correct tile sooner rather than later and that's was the part that the racers had no control over. This reminds me of another brutal roadblock: Lena & Kristy were eliminated on TAR S6 E3 when they literally had to look for a needle in a haystack in a field in Sweden, it was just pure luck and despite the fact that Lena searched for eight hours, she refused to give up and Phil had to go to that field to eliminate them. Thank goodness none of the teams actually had that much bad luck. How do you feel about challenges where luck can play such a big role in the outcome? I am not fond of them as it takes out the element of 'fairness', as I always believe that the outcome should be determined by skill and knowledge, rather than luck per se. I can see why the producers would throw in a challenge like that every now and then - this is because in any season, some stronger teams would emerge dominate the season simply because they are stronger, smarter, have a lot more experience traveling the world, have great problem solving and communication skills whilst some other teams would be lacking in some or all of those aspects. Thus if all the challenges on the race were based entirely on skill and knowledge rather than luck, then you will simply see the weaker teams get eliminated one by one until the quite late in the season when the real race would begin with only the much stronger teams left. By throwing in the element of luck like that, the producers are creating a far less predictable season where you really can't tell which team would win the leg or which team would be eliminated next - so you are sacrificing 'fairness' for entertainment value in this regard. Still, it was brutal to see such a strong team get eliminated under these circumstances. I do wonder if this is really what the viewers and the fans want though? This is a good trade off to improve the show's entertainment value?
Wait, what was Anna Leigh complaining about?
Anna Leigh pretended to want to collaborate with Todd, but when she thought she found his tile, she refused to tell him - oh so you expected him to help you when you were never going to help him in the first place? Then when she approached Chelsea for help, Chelsea gave her the cold shoulder and Anna Leigh did a big piece to camera about how Chelsea & Robbin are cutthroat and how she doesn't trust them - but wait a minute, at least Chelsea was honest about not being willing to collaborate with you. You just double crossed Todd, by that token, that makes Anna Leigh a total hypocrite. Does she simply shove her own shortcomings into a giant blind spot? Didn't the producers warn her about making that piece to camera, knowing jolly well how the viewers would realize her hypocrisy in doing so? Do you think the producers should step in and stop the racers saying something stupid to camera like that or do you think reality TV shouldn't be censored like that? Do producers like to see heroes and villains in he cast or do they prefer it if the teams were all more likable? By that token, that made Todd quite naïve and at least, we see that Chelsea is honest and that's why I was so glad Robbin & Chelsea won this leg. Todd & Ashlie could have come in second in this leg if not for the confusion over what to do after finding the right tile, but that is a moot point as there are no prizes for coming in second.
Has a team that has flirted with elimination before make an amazing come back to win a leg?
The team that comes to mind is JK & Mike from TAR Asia S5 who were at the very back of the pack in the first few legs, coming in 2nd last in E2, E3 and E4 (ie. one place away from elimination each time) and then 3rd last in E5 (ie. two places away from elimination), then somehow the came back and won the next two legs E6 and E7 to everyone's surprise. Look, I don't want to take any credit away from just how well Robbin & Chelsea ran this leg - they departed 48 minutes behind the first team at the start of this leg and then managed to overcome that massive time deficit to win this leg in style. Why did they do so badly in the first two legs in Thailand and then somehow managed to shift gears in the last two legs? I'd like to see if they could keep this momentum up and perform well again in this next leg in Jaipur, India.
Who will win the next leg? Who will be eliminated next?
Statistically, Rob & Corey are the strongest team so far after four legs but they have yet to win a leg - I think their win is long overdue though we do see him struggling with a roadblock involving balancing loads of pots on his head. We know there will be a physically demanding task in the start of the next leg in Jaipur, so this will give the teams like Greg & John, Ian & Joe as well as Liam & Yeremi a big advantage to jump ahead of the other teams. Andrea & Malaina are the weakest team at this point, but they did prove in this leg that they do have the determination to survive another leg. We are off to Jaipur in India for the next leg and it will really depend on how the teams get there - given that there aren't that many connections between Ho Chi Minh City and Jaipur, they would probably have to travel through somewhere like Bangkok, Mumbai or New Delhi to get to Jaipur, so we shall see if they are sent to a local travel to arrange their flights to Jaipur or if they would all be placed on the same flights to get there, then released at Jaipur airport in the order they finished in the previous leg. I think Andrea & Malaina would have a fighting chance if they encountered something that would level the playing field, such as an hours of operation situation where all teams are waiting for a venue to open. We do see a tight race to what looks like the pit stop between Morgan & Lena and Joe & Ian, both shouting at their tuk tuk driver to go faster. So it looks like it will be one of these two teams who will be eliminated, Morgan & Lena are statistically stronger than Joe & Ian, but Joe & Ian performed much better than Morgan & Lean in this leg, thus it is on that basis that I predict that Morgan & Lena would be eliminated next whilst Rob & Corey will finally get their first win of the race at last.
So that's it from me for now - please let me know what you think, leave a comment below and many thanks for reading.
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